


A (Maybe Not Quite) Poultry Meal

by LoneWulffe



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21631771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoneWulffe/pseuds/LoneWulffe
Summary: Thanksgiving is around the corner again and Mon-El wants to make it a truly special occasion.Kara makes the mistake of giving him free rein.(It still turns out pretty okay. Mostly.)
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Mon-El
Comments: 24
Kudos: 52





	A (Maybe Not Quite) Poultry Meal

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Sorry if you were hoping for an update for Paradise in a Dream; I promise I'm going to continue working on that until it is well and truly completed. It's just that a lot of things happened recently as I'm sure most of you are aware so I decided to put together something lighthearted and give everyone a bit of much-needed positivity. I did this in a bit of a rush so it might not be up to my usual standards but I hope you'll forgive me for that. (I'm also very sure most of you will have no trouble figuring out what inspired this fic.)
> 
> Also, I'd like to clarify that this is the absolute happy-to-the-point-of-sappy AU setting I could think of in relation to the show.
> 
> Last but not least, I just want to say that I admire Melissa a hell of a lot more than I did before (which I didn't think was possible) and she deserves all the love and happiness she can get.

> _“Overeating at Thanksgiving is a case in point. It's a national tradition.” – Eric Samuel Timm, Static Jedi: The Art of Hearing God Through the Noise_

* * *

“So I was thinking...”

The rather nervous tone of Mon-El's voice caused Kara to pause her work and glance up to find him drumming his fingers on the kitchen island and very pointedly not looking at her. Meanwhile, his other hand had been stuffed into his pocket. In other words, he was the very picture of nervousness. “Mon-El? What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” he answered a little too quickly. “Nothing's wrong, I promise.”

“You're certainly not acting like it,” she pointed out with a worried frown as she pushed her laptop aside so that she could give him her undivided attention. “Please, Mon-El... Tell me what's bothering you.”

His gaze slid over to meet hers briefly before he went back to staring at nothing in particular and the hand drumming on the kitchen island came up to scratch the back of his head. “Well... Thanksgiving is coming up soon, right?”

Understandably thrown by the seeming randomness of his question, she could only blink slowly at him as she tried to figure out why this could be troubling him. “Um... yes...?”

To her stunned surprise, he looked like he was... _blushing_? “It occurred to me yesterday that... Things have changed a lot since last time, you know? I mean, that was my first Thanksgiving among other things.”

“That's true...” Whether it had been his intention or not, his statement caused her to take a short trip down memory lane. His confusion over the kind of stuffing he'd been supposed to bring over, her jumping to the (in hindsight ridiculous) conclusion that he was hitting on Eliza and feeling a confusing mixture of emotions at the thought, Eliza setting her straight and gently nudging her in the right direction, his incredibly sweet speech that had been upon reflection very telling... A lot had happened that day. (She did her best not to dwell on the more unpleasant events that had followed.)

Back then, he had kept his budding feelings for her hidden as best as he could – at least, until he had thought he had been dying and kissed her – and she had been so afraid to acknowledge that she had already started slowly falling for him.

Now here they were, together in every possible way: an official couple that called the same apartment home and a superhero duo that saved the world on a regular basis.

Life was good. Great, even.

It was, after all, everything she had ever wanted.

“So...”

His voice dragged her out of her idle musings and she shook her head to clear it of the bout of nostalgia that had overtaken her so that she could focus on him again. “Yes?”

“This year...” When he glanced over this time, there was an unmistakable hint of shyness in those blue-grey orbs. “It's going to be our first Thanksgiving together as a couple.”

“Oh. Right.” Now it was her turn to blush a little and break eye contact. She didn't even know why she was reacting this way; it was a simple statement of fact and nothing more.

“Anyway.” He cleared his throat, and when she looked up again at the sound it was to see that he was staring deliberately at his hand which had started drawing abstract shapes on the kitchen island. It made him seem like a bashful child, a small part of her thought. “I was thinking... We're having it here again this year, right? So... I'd like to do it. The cooking and everything, that is. You know, since we're going to be the hosts and that just seems like the right thing to do. But only if you're okay with that, of course. I mean, I'm not going to take it badly if you don't want me to-”

“Mon-El, stop,” she cut him off firmly but gently, and couldn't tell if she'd heard the click of his mouth shutting because of her enhanced hearing or because the sound had just been that loud. “I don't mind. In fact, I'd be more than happy to let you do it. You know I love your cooking after all,” she added with a teasing yet genuine smile.

Just like that, he visibly brightened, his back straightening and his eyes practically shining with infectious joy as an ear-to-ear smile formed on his face. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” Then her smile dimmed a little as a troubling thought entered her mind. “You're not offering to do this because you feel like you owe me or everyone else for anything, are you? Because I don't want you to do it if that's the case. We're all grateful you're part of our lives, you know. Most importantly, _I'm_ grateful to have you in my life just as much as you're grateful to have me in yours. ”

The flash of guilt across his face told Kara that she had hit the mark but he shook his head almost immediately. “It's not that. Not only that, I mean,” he quickly amended when he noticed her disbelieving frown. “I just thought... I want to make it special, you know? Because of where we are now compared to where we were last year and everything in between and aside from that and... I just feel like I want to show how thankful I am for all that to you and everyone else.” He glanced at her with that heartbreakingly shy look again. “I... I want this to be the first of many Thanksgivings with us together like we are now.”

How was she supposed to argue with that especially when that was exactly what she wanted too? “All right,” she said as a blush dusted her cheeks once again, and that was more than enough to bring back that beaming smile of his. “How about we go shopping this weekend for the ingredients? Do you already know what you need to get?”

“Don't worry, I've already done all the research,” he answered with no small amount of pride. “I have a list and everything.”

(At the time, she had accepted his confidence at face value and thought nothing more of it.)

(It was only later that she would come to see this as a serious lapse of judgement.)

* * *

Before Kara knew it, the weekend had arrived and they were already standing in front of her local supermarket. Around them, dozens of National City residents were pushing their shopping carts in, out and around the premises as they too prepared for the upcoming holiday. “Looks like everyone else had the same idea but luckily for us there doesn't seem to be too many people so hopefully what we need to buy hasn't run out of stock. Do you have your list?”

“Right here,” Mon-El assured her with a wide grin as he held up a folded piece of paper... which looked a little thicker than she'd expected. Had he used one sheet per dish? That seemed a little wasteful so she made a mental note to talk to him about it later.

“Okay then.” She went through her own mental list of typical Thanksgiving dishes and tried to figure out what would be the most time-efficient route in the supermarket they could take. “What do we get first?”

“Let's see...” he trailed off thoughtfully as he unfolded his list.

That was the point where she realised that the reason his piece of paper looked so thick was because it wasn't just one piece of paper.

It was several stapled together neatly at the top left corner.

And there was most definitely _not_ only one dish written on each piece.

“...Mike, exactly how much food are you planning to cook for Thanksgiving?” she asked with something akin to dread.

“Hmm? Oh, enough for everyone,” he answered rather nonchalantly as he flipped through his itemised list. (A small voice at the back of her head noted that she would've been proud of how organised he was if she wasn't so stunned.)

“...I see,” she whispered faintly. “That's... very thoughtful of you. But, um... There aren't _that_ many people coming over... right?”

That got him to look up and meet her gaze although the innocently curious expression on his face did not comfort her. “What are you talking about? There's Alex, Eliza, Jeremiah, J'onn, M'gann, Winn, Eve, James, Lucy, Sam, Ruby... And that's not even taking into account how much the two of us can eat on our own.”

“...Well, I can't argue with that,” she finally said after trying and failing to find a counterpoint she could use. Realising that resistance was futile – why was she even objecting to having more food anyway? –, she let out a sigh and gestured vaguely around them. “Lead the way.”

Sensing that she was not entirely on board with everything, he gave her that smile of his that always made her heart skip a beat. “Trust me, Kara. I've got everything figured out.” Then his smile gained a touch of humour. “I know the correct stuffing to buy this time, for one.”

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling herself. “Good. Because considering the fact that we live together now, you'd be destroying _our_ bed if you did the same thing as last year.”

In an instant, his smile turned into a grin that had an altogether different but not unwelcome effect on her. “I can think of other more enjoyable ways to do that...”

“ _M-M-Mike!_ ” she hissed, her cheeks burning as she quickly looked around to check if anyone had overheard his incredibly suggestive proposition. “ _We're in public!_ ”

“But you're not saying 'no'...” he pointed out with obvious glee as he waggled his eyebrows with borderline comical exaggeration.

Sputtering incoherently, she smacked him on the arm as her face felt like it was going to spontaneously combust. “Would you just stop so we can get on with our shopping already?!”

“Okay, okay,” he laughed as he pretended to massage the spot where she had hit him. Before she could repeat the action, however, that warm smile of his was back and she felt her annoyance at him fade away. It just wasn't fair, she thought to herself with somewhat childish petulance. “Let's get going.”

“You're the one who was holding us up,” she grumbled in a poor attempt to pretend that she was still irritated at him but another look at his smile made her eventually cave and smile back.

However, her smile started to fade as, after the standard ingredients – sans turkey, strangely enough –, more and more items of questionable relation to Thanksgiving got added to their shopping cart.

She reached her limit when a giant bag of marshmallows landed on top of the venison and next to the lobsters. “...Um... Mike?”

“Yes, Kara?” Mon-El didn't even look at her, being too absorbed with studying the... fifth? Sixth? ...page of his list.

“Why...” Her voice cracked a little and she had to clear her throat before she could continue. “Why are we getting some of these things? I mean, I'd never pass up the opportunity to eat lobster, for example, but they're not really things you typically serve on Thanksgiving...”

To her growing despair, the look he gave her when he tore his eyes away from his list was one of honest-to-goodness bewilderment. “But the websites said that was what the pilgrims and the natives ate at the first ever Thanksgiving meal and I'm aiming for authenticity.”

Kara opened her mouth to tell him that he didn't really need to recreate a meal from several centuries ago, took one look at his earnest puppy dog expression and realised she couldn't bring herself to dissuade him from doing something he was quite obviously very eager to do. “...And the marshmallows?” she asked instead.

“Oh, apparently there's a traditional Thanksgiving dish called sweet potato and marshmallow casserole. I mean, it's not 'first Thanksgiving dinner' level of tradition but it kept popping up everywhere so I decided to add it to the menu.”

“I... I see.” Had she been missing out all these years or had he just happened to stumble across some very strange websites? Only Rao knew. “Okay... but... um...” she trailed off as she mentally scrambled for some scrap of sanity to cling on to, “Are you sure you have enough money to pay for all this?”

His smile was meant to be reassuring but it did not have the intended effect on her. “Don't worry about that. I called Eliza the other day to ask for her input and some of her recipes and she was kind enough to send me some money to buy everything I needed. I tried to object but she said it was only fair since she was going to be a guest and I was saving her from having to prepare even a single dish this year.”

“Oh.” Of course. She should have known. Eliza had a huge soft spot for Mon-El and practically spoiled him rotten every chance she got. Kara didn't have the heart to disapprove of it though; having met Rhea for herself and seen how the woman had treated her own son, she couldn't begrudge him finally having a genuinely loving mother figure in his life. Knowing she was well and truly defeated, she surrendered to her seemingly inevitable fate. “All right. As long as you don't buy the super expensive brands and go over your budget.”

“I won't,” he promised, and she considered that reason enough to keep quiet and trust his judgement with the rest of their purchases.

It was only after they had loaded everything into the car that Kara realised a very important ingredient was missing. “Uh, Mike? Did you forget to buy the turkey?”

“Oh, no,” he replied cheerfully as he closed the boot. “We're not getting a regular store-bought turkey.”

That creeping sense of dread from before made its unwelcome return. “W-We're not?”

“Nope!” His buoyant mood was a complete contrast to her stunned shock. “We're getting a heritage turkey.”

“A what now?”

“It's supposed to be the closest genetic relative to the turkey that was served at the first ever Thanksgiving dinner,” he explained helpfully in an apparent attempt to ease her mind. (It didn't quite work.) “It took me quite a bit of time but I found a place relatively nearby that sells them.”

For some reason, she found herself imagining a mutant fowl that in no way resembled the bird she was used to eating on this particular holiday. “I... I see.”

Of course, the thought of trying to talk him out of this controversial course of action was wiped out by the expression of sincere and unbridled enthusiasm on his face once again, and so she let him direct her to another shop several blocks away.

Even so, she couldn't help but sneakily scan the bag in his hand when he emerged from the establishment with his prize. It _looked_ normal enough... Maybe she was overreacting? Mon-El was a great cook, after all, and he'd said he'd done his research quite thoroughly – the fact that he even knew what the pilgrims and natives had eaten was proof enough – so she really needed to believe in him where this was concerned just like she did everything else.

That unfortunately did not stop her from worrying about it all the way until it was finally time to start preparing what promised to be the biggest Thanksgiving meal she had ever seen. The only remedy she could think up was to get herself involved in the process so that she could keep an eye on things.

The way he stared at her made it quite clear what he thought of her offer. “It's okay, I can handle it on my own.”

“We're supposed to be hosting this together so it only makes sense that I help, right? And anyway, what's with that look?” she demanded to know peevishly.

Instead of relenting like she wanted, he clutched his precious heritage turkey even tighter. “Kara, you burn everything but pancakes. Don't you think this dinner's a little too important to be taking any chances?”

“I can successfully cook things besides pancakes!” she argued hotly even though she was quite aware that attempts to do so in the past had not in fact produced anything edible by normal standards.

“Crinkle,” was all he said which really didn't improve her mood.

Feeling a lot like her pride was now on the line, she switched tactics in the hopes that it would help her achieve her goal. “Come on, Mon-El. I'd feel guilty if I let you do all the work. Just let me help with _something_. It doesn't have to be much.”

Mon-El visibly faltered, his expression indecisive even as he continued to cradle the turkey in his arms protectively. It was positively ridiculous; he was behaving as if she was an imminent threat to it and he was doing everything he could to keep it safe. What did he think that was, their baby?

...Where in Rao's name had _that_ thought come from?

“You can help me prepare the ingredients?”

His hesitant offer snapped Kara out of her daze. “Huh?” she said with utmost eloquence as she realised that she was blushing furiously and gaping at him like a landed fish.

Thankfully, he either didn't notice her odd behaviour or thought the threat she posed to his Thanksgiving plans was more deserving of his focus. “You can do the chopping and peeling and whatever else if you want. But you leave the cooking to me.”

Unwilling to push her luck any further and hoping that accepting the peace offering now would keep him from asking why she was suddenly imitating a tomato, she nodded meekly. “O-Okay.”

With that settled, he ceded half of the kitchen space to her and they finally got started. He proved true to his word, laying out a clear plan on what needed to be done first and which utensils they would need for each task. Meanwhile, she kept her end of the bargain, following his instructions without questioning them even once, and all too soon they had established a nice rhythm as delicious aromas began to fill every corner of the apartment.

It felt... really nice.

Domestic.

Hours, days, weeks, months, years, even centuries... She wanted the rest of her long life to be filled with moments like this.

So contented was she in enjoying the experience that she actually felt a pang of sadness when they were all done and it was almost time for their guests to arrive. By then, nearly every available flat surface had been covered with dishes and she had been forced to borrow a folding table from Mrs Needleberg. Even then, she could almost swear her dining table was audibly groaning under the weight of the feast that had been placed on it.

Eliza and Jeremiah were naturally the first to show up, and of course the first thing the Danvers matriarch did was make a beeline for the kitchen. No amount of pleading could dissuade her from checking if they needed any help. Jeremiah for his part only laughed and told them to just let her do something even if it was as simple as pouring out drinks.

The next to arrive was Alex with an apology from Sam, stating that her girlfriend and Ruby had gotten stuck in traffic and would likely be arriving a little late. After that came J'onn with M'gann who were shortly followed by Winn and Eve. Lastly, James and Lucy ended up arriving with Sam and Ruby in tow, the mother and daughter duo having run into the couple just outside Kara's apartment block.

After everyone had taken their turn making cheeky comments about the amount of food being served and gotten threatened with being disallowed from eating any of it, it was time to officially begin.

Kara cleared her throat as everyone held their drinks in their hands and waited for her to speak. “So, as some of you know by now, it's a Danvers family tradition that we all take turns saying what we're thankful for before we get to the eating part.” A touch of nervousness overcame her and she cleared her throat again as she gathered her courage. “Now, this is usually the part where I ask who wants to go first but... um, if it's all right with everyone here, I'd like to go first?”

“You're the host,” Alex pointed out with a somewhat sardonic smile. “I'm pretty sure the right is yours by default.”

Everyone nodded or murmured their agreement, and after some additional encouragement especially from Mon-El who whispered a simple “You can do it” into her ear, Kara drew a deep breath and went through the speech she had prepared beforehand.

“First, I'd like to welcome those of you who are experiencing their first Danvers Thanksgiving. I promise we don't usually have this much food.” She paused as everyone laughed and waited for it to die down before continuing. “You have to understand that since the last Thanksgiving dinner which was also hosted right here in this apartment, the number of people whose presence this occasion would not be complete without has pretty much doubled.”

Her gaze swept across the room as she took in the faces of everyone dear to her.

“Some have returned to us after enduring great hardship.”

Jeremiah smiled and nodded his head in acknowledgement.

“Some of us have found love.”

Alex, J'onn, Winn and James wrapped one of their arms around their significant others, prompting Sam, M'gann, Eve and Lucy to return the gesture. At Kara's side, Mon-El reached out for her hand and entwined their fingers. Not to be left out, Ruby monopolised Alex's and her mother's free hands, resulting in quite the heart-warming if amusing picture.

“But what it all boils down to is the fact that although different kinds of bonds have brought us here to spend this moment together – blood, friendship, romance –, we are all family. We've been there for each other through good times and hard times and I know that we'll all continue to do that for many years to come. So... I guess what I want to say is... I'm thankful for all of you being here – for being a part of my life in some way or other.”

She squeezed Mon-El's hand and let herself revel in the simple but precious reality that she could do something like that with him – something so mundane that people took for granted. “I'm thankful for the family that took me in when I first arrived on this planet and I'm thankful for the family I found along the way – the friends I made who have never once hesitated to back me up or call me out depending on the situation. All of you have kept me going in your own way and I want you to know that I will forever be thankful for that.”

Having finally reached the end of her speech, Kara found her throat was surprisingly dry and took a sip of her drink both to wet it and to give herself time to get her emotions back under control. “Um... That's... That's it. Who wants to go next?”

“I think you pretty much said everything we want to say for us,” Winn commented, and his answer was met with a chorus of agreements in various forms.

Kara's cheeks pinked as she became a little self-conscious. “R-Really? I didn't think I said that much...”

“Oh, you said plenty,” Alex corrected her with a bemused grin. “And since none of us feel like trying to compete with your grand speech, can I suggest that we start eating already? Because the smells are driving me _insane_ and if I have to wait another minute, my stomach is going to eat itself.”

Everyone laughed and once again voiced their agreement.

Swept up in the jubilant mood permeating the apartment, Kara decided to give up and go with the flow. “Well in that case, it's buffet style this year so everyone grab a plate and dig in!”

Just as she had implied, Alex was the first to act, grabbing the nearest plate and shovelling large helpings of mashed potatoes onto it before moving on to the next dish. Her behaviour prompted cries of protest from Winn who proceeded to try and stop her from hogging all the food while Sam and Eve exchanged looks of exasperation. Meanwhile, everyone else took their time, content to watch the amusingly ridiculous argument unfold.

Shaking her head, Kara was about to follow suit when she was stopped by a gentle tug of the hand that was still being held by Mon-El. When she turned to look at him, he was wearing that smile of his that made her feel like she was going to burst with unparalleled happiness. “Mon-El? What is it?”

Still smiling, he tugged her a little closer, and somehow she knew that the next words were meant for her alone. “I just wanted to add on a little something of my own to your speech.”

“And that is...?” she prompted him with somewhat breathless anticipation.

“I'm still thankful that out of everybody that could have found me, it was you and I'm the luckiest guy in the universe that you chose me to be with you.”

The sincerity of his words and his expression made her heart swell, and she had to resist the urge to kiss him senseless right then and there. “I'm thankful I found you too.”

Unlike her, he didn't hold himself back and leaned in for a kiss that was neither too short nor too long, and when they finally pulled away they were wearing matching smiles that were so brilliant they put the sun to shame. If anyone had seen their little public display of affection, no one brought attention to it, and neither of them said another word as they finally joined the crowd around the table.

(The heritage turkey turned out to be surprisingly tasty, but the fact that the sweet potato and marshmallow casserole was the first dish to be cleaned out made Kara question everything she knew about life.)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed that little detour from PiaD and, in the case of my American readers, you had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner! (But seriously, you guys eat some really weird things.) The next time you see anything from me should be the fourth chapter of And Nights Bright Days so look forward to that!
> 
> PS: In case anyone missed it, the "poultry" in the title is a pun on "paltry". ...Thanksgiving puns are hard to think up on short notice, okay?


End file.
